There’s a word for someone who claims to be a Christian but who hurts others on purpose and then acts like things will be ok.

There’s a word for someone who claims to be a Christian but who hurts others and then says they are praying for them.

There’s a word for someone who claims to be a Christian but who hurts others and then attempts to encourage others not to lose hope.

The word is abuser. A person who does this is an abuser. A person who has the ability to stop hurting you but doesn’t is an abuser. And someone who behaves this way and claims to be a person of faith is a liar. People of faith do not purposely hurt others and then pray for them and then hurt them more.

Abuse is not always physical. Sometimes it’s a selfish and insecure adult making choices that hurt others emotionally.

People of faith fall short, they recognize it, they apologize, and then they do everything they can to behave differently. They do not willfully sin day in and day out thinking they can seek forgiveness or expecting to rely on grace.

None of us is ever beyond forgiveness. But there’s a difference between someone who chooses to hurt and someone who accidentally hurts. There’s a difference between sorry spoken with words and sorry spoken with action. There’s a difference between someone who claims faith and someone who lives faith.

Sometimes I think the thing that most makes people reject Christianity is the perversion of “Christianity” that “Christians” show the world. We can’t live in a way incongruous with the tenets of Christ and think our faith is believable. Much more than we realize, people see all of us for who and what we are, and they do one or more of three things: laugh at the obvious showmanship, feel sorry for someone so pathetically misguided, or get angry or disgusted with the misrepresentation of faith.

People of faith aren’t perfect. They aren’t people who never fail. In fact, they fail a lot. The distinction is that they are people who are constantly and earnestly trying to do better.